Now left abandoned, Men’s State Prison is a former minimum-security prison located in Milledgeville, Georgia. The prison building was built in 1950 as part of the Central State Hospital campus and was originally known as the Washington Building. Named after Booker T. Washington, the building housed African American patients. The chapel on the grounds was built in 1964 and was the second chapel constructed for patients. The property was transferred to the Department of Corrections in 1978. The facility was used as a male state prison until permanently closing in 2011. Men’s State Prison housed 670 medium and minimum-security inmates. Most of the prisoners were elderly, disabled, or classified as sex offenders who were sentenced to spend their remaining years behind bars. A majority of these inmates were confined to wheelchairs or were bedridden and suffering from health issues.
Inmates with a high-security level were assigned jobs inside the state prison. Low and medium-security inmates were assigned to outside work details. Each inmate was allowed one hour of yard time each day. Younger inmates who were able-bodied, several dozen in total; were housed in a separate modular building on the prison grounds. These inmates worked to maintain the prison inside and out, helping with tasks like changing light bulbs, cleaning floors, and preparing meals in the kitchen. Prisoners were housed in eight open dormitories averaging seventy beds per dorm. Eight cells were used for both isolation and segregation.
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Regards for this tremendous post, I am glad I found this internet site on yahoo.
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Hi, I check your new stuff on a regular basis. Your story-telling style is awesome, keep doing what you’re doing!
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Where is this?
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I stumbled upon this facility during a visit to see the old “Lunatic Hospital” and would love to learn more about the hospital, prison and especially the nearby cemetery.
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Check out my book Abandoned Georgia: Exploring the Peach State. The asylum is covered in detail.
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I just explored this building, today. It has grown up a lot since the pictures above were taken. However, according to the security guard that met my friend and me outside the fencing as we were heading back to the car, they are “cracking down” on people trespassing and taking them straight to jail. I guess she like us.
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Could you possibly tell me why these prisons were closed?
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These old buildings were not efficient to operate compared to modern prisons and required more staff.
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Are these buildings still around and where are the located?
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They started tearing this building down last year piece by piece.
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